Planning for Alaska, Quilting, New Totes, Vet Visit for Nick

 

Now that the holidays are over, our serious planning for our summer trip to Alaska can begin. Not that we plan with any reservations and timetables and schedules. No no no!

But we are planning routes:

---adding what we would like to see

---which way to go up 

---which way to go back 

---which loops to make 

----which way to go so we don't repeat ourselves! 

What we really find most helpful is watching YouTubes of other RV people traveling up to Alaska. We are taking notes and marking maps of places they stayed, boondocking spots, campground rates, and interesting things to see along the way. 

So if you have a favorite or an unusual thing that isn't just a normal "tourist trap", please post it in the comments below?? 

We like the natural things, we like the beautiful things, we like the out of the way things. No crowds, no tourist stuff, no high fees to do crazy things like ride a zip line or fly up to the top of Denali in a plane. Lol!

We are working on a project later today that I will take the time to photograph. We have to wait for our Amazon delivery for the parts and the pieces. More on that later. 

One of the other things that we did this month in the motorhome was to reorganize some of our storage. Aldi, in our favorite "Aldi Finds" aisle, had something new two weeks ago. 

They are very sturdy baskets, I will call them totes. Actually the tag said laundry basket. But they're not like any laundry basket we've ever seen before. These are very sturdy and solid. The upper rim is actually reinforced with the secondary piece of plastic snapped into place. They are a little larger than the fabric totes I already had up on the top bunk. The best part about these is that they have a sturdy bottom and we can use them to haul items in and out of the house when we load and unload. Especially things like groceries, canned goods, dog supplies, or my sewing stuff. We bought five of them, but only four seem to fit very well across our top bunk.  The extra one off to the right might be used for our next project... Stay tuned for that.

We put down a rubber non-skit mat that is the thicker type used for under throw rugs, rather than the thinner shelf liner. Nothing moves around and we haven't had a problem. It's a great storage solution for us.

Incidentally, we removed the mattress for the top bunk and only put it in if the grandkids are coming along. We hang it along on the garage wall sideways in a sling made from a new plastic tarp so it stays clean.

At the same time, Aldi had matching hampers for the bathroom. This hamper seem to be sturdier and has a smaller footprint than the one we had before. The only problem was the matching top did not match. Shoppers before us had taken all of the dark tops and last one was the lighter gray top matching the rest of the hampers on the shelf. Oh well, I guess that we have a contrasting top in the bathroom but it really doesn't matter. 

We are still debating on whether or not we will take along our small portable washing machine to Alaska. It is very, very handy, especially for people who hate laundromats like we do. It only weighs 28 lb. We lift it out to take a shower and set it in the aisleway by the kitchen. Otherwise it just rides in the shower stall out of the way.

The only thing is that we have to plan accordingly with our limited freshwater tank capacity when using it. We have to know when we will be able to refill our fresh water supply right afterwards. It uses about six to eight gallons of water to wash and approximately the same amount again to rinse. I can do about six to eight shirts and a pile of underwear and socks per load. Towels or jeans take more water and longer wash times.

It normally rides right in the shower stall. I'm hoping that both the washing machine and the new hamper will fit in the same spot. I haven't carried out the washing machine to try the new arrangement out yet. The washing machine is winterized and stored in our garage for now. 

Here is a pic I took last summer of the washing machine in the shower stall.

Remember in yesterday's blog where I talked about actually baking the wooden artwork that we found in the woods? I couldn't find the photos yesterday but I found them now today. 

Youngest granddaughter Claire helped me on this project. We decided to bake it on a long low temperature to make sure there were no bugs or eggs hidden in the wood. Claire helped wrap it up in tin foil. 

We set it on a baking sheet in the oven for an hour on 150°. We didn't see any bugs in the tin foil. 

After it had cooled off I gave it three coats of polyurethane. I think it's absolutely amazing as a piece of natural artwork!!

Speaking about artwork---

Now that the beautiful quilt is finished for the bed in the motorhome, I am also working on finishing up these blocks of maple leaves. I was inspired on a trip out to New England last year. I saw a beautiful quilt like this hanging in a Vermont Visitor Center. I changed it up a little bit and now I've been working on it one block at a time while we travel this summer. Because it's in small pieces, I can work on a little bit at a time. Soon it will be put together into a larger queen sized quilt. I think I will either sell it or I could keep this one on the love seat in the motorhome for cuddling up during movie time.

It's so easy to piece together and just using three or four different prints per block, it makes a nice variety. There is a balance and theme to each piece with a certain placement of each color. But really, each leaf will be slightly different.

I'm debating about arranging it in patterns this way with every four leaves going out in opposite directions, or putting a brown strip in between each block called "sashing". 

And since we are on the topic of quilts, my sister always gives me quilting magazines. She works at a library and gives me the outdated ones. Then I can page through and look for interesting patterns that appeal to me. I actually rip the pages right out and save them in my files. It's a lot easier than saving a whole magazine when there's just one quilt that I like.

I happened to see this one last spring. Again, it's one of those quilts I can work on in small spaces with small pieces until I assemble all the blocks. As opposed to a large quilt that needs big areas for sewing. Perfect for traveling.

In the magazine, they only showed four blocks for a small wall hanging. Instead, I will make it as a large queen size quilt. 

When we stopped last spring at Missouri Star Quilt Company, I invested in a big hunk of 34 pieces of this beautiful Chickadee Landing fabric by Moda. The tiny prints will work out very well for small 2-inch squares in these blocks.

One other thing we need to prep before going traveling is to make sure our little Nicholas is updated on all of his shots and gets another year of flea and tick and heartworm medicine. Going over the border now has new rules with a form printed out regarding the dogs health certificate, micro chipping and proof of rabies vaccine. It was time for his yearly checkup. We have now had him for 1 year!

He wasn't too happy about being at the veterinarian, but he did well and let her examine him and he got three new shots in his butt!

It's amazing that he was only 12 lb when we were able to trap him out in the woods 1 year ago. He was skin and bones and severely dehydrated, malnourished and on his very last legs. If we hadn't been able to trap him when we did, he surely would have died within another day or two, according to the vet.

Now he is up to 23 lb and is full of muscle and flesh and a good full coat. 

If you are interested in reading his story, here is a link to the blog post from last year:

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2023/12/st-nicholas-came-and-hes-not-who-you.html

Well, it's time to get a couple things done today.

We will see what I can blog about tomorrow 

on our newest project in the motorhome!!!!

Planning Our Upcoming RV Adventure

The heavy snows have come to Wisconsin, just like a lot of other parts of the country. We have been snowblowing and shoveling it away and keeping a clear path behind the motorhome. Our cargo trailer with the e-bikes and all of our extra gear is safely stowed away out of the snow inside of our garage.

We are looking to make a getaway as soon as some other obligations are finished. We have our yearly checkups at the end of this month, and have already completed the pre-appointment blood work. All looks good.

We have a neutering appointment set for February 7th for the new dog, Nicholas. We know it'll probably be a good 7 to 10 days after that before he will be cleared to travel. So that brings us easily into the middle of February. AAARRRGGGHHHHH! 

I KEEP TELLING STEVE: THIS IS THE WORST MONTH TO BE STUCK IN WISCONSIN!!!

So I am proposing that we push ahead our physicals into April when we get back as well as Nick's neutering appointment. He isn't showing any signs of aggression or dominance. He doesn't even lift his leg when he goes pee. So I don't think he needs to be neutered immediately... Although that is the best situation for him to get it done. We just wish we could have gotten a sooner appointment at our vet. We did ask to be put on a cancellation list in case they get in earlier opening for him. 

He doesn't like this anymore than I do, so I am hoping to nudge him forward into saying heck with the appointments and let's just load up and go? 

Nicholas has chosen to take the easy path and just curl up inside the warmth of the house. He is really appreciating a good warm house after being on his own out in the cold miserable woods for 3 weeks trying to find food, water, and shelter! 

Binney says she will go out and be a snow puppy just long enough to go pee and get right back in the house!

We got a whopper of a storm the other night. It was amazing blasting with blizzard conditions. The winds were equivilant to a F2 Hurricane. Everything's stuck and frozen shut. 

Sustained winds for hours along with a good 12 to 14 inches of snow. It was blowing so much it was hard to accurately measure the snowfall. I think in our area we got closer to 18 inches. 

We had prepared before the storm hit and had everything we needed at hand. There was no reason to go out. So we hunkered down and enjoyed the fire and binged watched some traveling YouTubes to get some ideas on our upcoming trip.

We are thinking about heading south as quick as we can. In about the middle of Illinois is a small town called Wenona. There's a gas station and Burger King just off the interstate. They have pull through RV sites with hookups alongside of their building. It's nice to have electric for the night and add some electric space heaters as well as the propane furnace. We will leave the motor home fully winterized until we get further south. We carry along a 5 gallon jug of drinking water for the first night and use RV antifreeze to flush the toilet. 

From there we are looking to get down maybe to the top edge of Arkansas by the second night. We've looked at a few campgrounds and made sure that they are open in the Ozark National Forest. We called ahead and found out Long Pool and Cove Lake are both open year round.

Next we are looking at getting down into the corner of Arkansas Oklahoma and Texas area. We found a few places that we might meander around to. 

On the way back I would like to stop in Hamilton at Missouri Star Quilt Company, and then stop by our dear friend Rosie in Bethel, Missouri. 

We will just play it by ear and we don't make reservations. Because we are very adept at boondocking we don't need campgrounds with hookups. We prefer the National Forest where it's quiet and take the rustic sites.

Tentative ideas: 

Now.... 

Just to get out of the snow

and hit the road!! 

One of our last commitments here for January was our granddaughter Chelsea's 14th birthday. We also combined it along with our delayed Christmas family event. First we took all of them out to our favorite little Mexican restaurant here in Oconto, Los Magueyes.  

The food was excellent, as always. And of course the birthday girl had to wear the token sombrero and get her Birthday Sopapita! 

After that we took them bowling at the local bowling alley for our Epic Bowling Day. We had a lot of fun!

The snow is starting to get deep, 

the deer out in the Nature Preserve behind our home 

have come into our yard to check out the bird feeders! 

We told both of the dogs that we want to take them and go camping in the motorhome. So it's time to get Nicholas accustomed to the motorhome! Even though it was down around 0°, we turned on the furnace and set up an electric space heater to warm it up inside for a couple hours. Then we went out with the dogs and a food dish and a water dish and our lunch! We let him explore the motorhome and sniff everything. Binney showed him around, and told him all of her favorite spots. We had our lunch out there and watched some TV so Nick got used to the idea that we would just sit in the recliners and it was like another house. We think he got the idea??

He has traveled well in our Saturn in a dog crate on the back seat. He doesn't show any signs of motion sickness or nervousness so we think we he will be a good traveler. We put on about 180 miles with him one day and it didn't bother him a bit. 

So as long as we pack up their toys, their doggy beds, and their doggy food..  they will love to go wherever we go. 

Since we've been kind of snowbound and trapped at home, I've been making some YouTubes of the dogs just being silly and getting to know each other. I think they are just hilarious. Here are a few links for your viewing pleasure:

Well, if Steve doesn't want to leave yet...

I do have some quilts to work on.

This one is called North Star, 

and will be done for my friend Cella.

I am prepping and prewashing and cutting fabrics to take along to work on this one next.  Called Autumn Leaves.  I have a variety of rich brown, rust and gold prints to work on the blocks. The pattern has 3 sizes, I think I will work on the largest 10 inch ones for a big quilt. 

Time to get a move on here,

maybe start packing?